To pay with Form 1040-V, fill in the voucher’s four lines, write a check or money order payable to “United States Treasury” for the balance shown on your return, and mail both loose in the same envelope as your Form 1040 to the IRS address for your state. The voucher doesn’t calculate anything; it just helps the IRS credit your payment to the right account.
Filling Out the Voucher
Download the current Form 1040-V from irs.gov. It covers balances due on Form 1040, 1040-SR, and 1040-NR.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040-V (2025) Payment Voucher for Individuals There are four entries:
- Line 1: the Social Security number listed first on your return.
- Line 2: if you filed jointly, the SSN listed second.
- Line 3: the dollar amount you are enclosing, written as $XXX.XX with no dashes or lines.
- Line 4: your name and mailing address, matching your return.
Line 3 should show only what you’re actually sending. If you can’t pay the full balance, send what you can and enter that partial amount; the IRS will credit it and you can arrange a payment plan for the rest.2Internal Revenue Service. Payments
Writing the Check or Money Order
Make the payment out to “United States Treasury.” Not “IRS,” not a person, not a department. Never mail cash.3Internal Revenue Service. Pay by Check or Money Order
Write the following on the check itself so the IRS can match it if the voucher gets separated:
- Your name and address
- A daytime phone number
- Your Social Security number
- The tax year and form, for example “2025 Form 1040”1Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040-V (2025) Payment Voucher for Individuals
If you filed jointly but you and your spouse received separate assessments, add “MFT 31 separate assessment” to the memo line.3Internal Revenue Service. Pay by Check or Money Order A money order works the same way and is a reasonable option if you don’t have a checking account. USPS caps domestic money orders at $1,000 each, so a larger balance may take more than one.4Postal Explorer. Domestic – Extra Services and Fees
Confirm the funds are in your account before mailing. A bounced check adds its own penalty: the lesser of the payment amount or $25 for payments under $1,250, and 2% of the payment for anything $1,250 or higher.5Internal Revenue Service. Dishonored Check or Other Form of Payment Penalty
Putting It in the Envelope
Place the voucher, the check, and the return loose inside one envelope. Do not staple or paperclip anything together. Metal fasteners jam the IRS sorting machines and slow processing.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040-V (2025) Payment Voucher for Individuals
Where to Mail It
The IRS uses two addresses for Form 1040-V payments from within the 50 states and D.C.:6Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Addresses for Taxpayers and Tax Professionals Filing Form 1040-V
- Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1214, Charlotte, NC 28201-1214.
- All other states and D.C.: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 931000, Louisville, KY 40293-1000.
Taxpayers living abroad, at APO/FPO addresses, or filing Form 2555 or 4563 mail their payments to Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1303, Charlotte, NC 28201-1303, USA. Addresses can change year to year, so check the back of the current voucher before you send.
Protecting Your Payment Date
Under federal law, a payment sent through USPS is treated as received on the postmark date, not the date the IRS opens the envelope.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7502 – Timely Mailing Treated as Timely Filing and Paying A payment postmarked April 15 and delivered April 22 is legally on time, but only if the envelope is properly addressed and stamped.
A plain postmark leaves you no proof of the mailing date. Certified Mail fixes that: the receipt establishes when you mailed it. For registered mail, the registration date is treated as the postmark and the registration itself is prima facie evidence of delivery.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7502 – Timely Mailing Treated as Timely Filing and Paying As of 2026, USPS Certified Mail is $5.30 per item, with a return receipt at $4.40 on paper or $2.82 electronic.4Postal Explorer. Domestic – Extra Services and Fees That’s cheap insurance against a penalty dispute.
Using a Private Delivery Service
The same postmark rule applies to IRS-designated private delivery services, but only to specific service levels from DHL Express, FedEx, and UPS. FedEx Ground doesn’t qualify; FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, UPS Next Day Air Saver, and UPS 2nd Day Air do.8Internal Revenue Service. Private Delivery Services (PDS) Private carriers cannot deliver to P.O. boxes, so if you use one, send the payment to the IRS submission processing center street address rather than the P.O. Box printed on the voucher. Those street addresses are published separately by the IRS.9Internal Revenue Service. Submission Processing Center Street Addresses for Private Delivery Service (PDS) A private courier sent to the P.O. Box will be returned to you.
The Deadline and What Late Costs
For tax year 2025 returns, the payment deadline is April 15, 2026.10Internal Revenue Service. IRS Opens 2026 Filing Season An extension to file is not an extension to pay. Any balance still owed after April 15 accrues both a penalty and interest.
The failure-to-pay penalty runs 0.5% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month it stays outstanding, capped at 25%. If you filed on time and have an installment agreement in place, the rate drops to 0.25%. If you ignore an IRS notice of intent to levy, it jumps to 1%.11Internal Revenue Service. IRS Notices and Bills, Penalties and Interest Charges Interest also accrues at 7% per year, compounded daily, as of early 2026, and adjusts quarterly.12Internal Revenue Service. Interest Rates Remain the Same for the First Quarter of 2026 Sending a partial payment with the voucher shrinks the base that both charges apply to.
After You Mail
Wait at least two weeks before checking on your payment. If the check hasn’t cleared your bank by then, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to confirm whether the payment has been credited.13Internal Revenue Service. General Procedural Questions Paper payments lag behind electronic ones in IRS records, so don’t be alarmed if the transaction takes a while to show up online. Keep the canceled check or the money order receipt as your permanent proof. If a USPS money order goes missing, the original purchase receipt is what you’ll need to file a claim.14USPS. Money Orders – The Basics
You Don’t Have to Mail at All
Form 1040-V exists for paper payments. If you pay electronically, you don’t send the voucher. IRS Direct Pay draws from a bank account for free with no registration. EFTPS requires enrollment and handles a wider range of payment types. Debit card, credit card, and digital wallet payments go through third-party processors that charge their own fees.2Internal Revenue Service. Payments Any of these gets you an immediate confirmation, which the mail cannot.